Chapter 42
Not to mention that the bag also contained a power bank, a water bottle, an umbrella, and other items. All that weight piled up together, hitting Chen Li, who was already dizzy and disoriented, almost rendered him powerless to fight back.
"Li Chi'an!" Chen Li staggered back, clutching his forehead and face. "You madman, stop!"
"I'll stop you!" Li Chi'an cursed angrily. "You trash, why should I stop? Did you stop hitting my son? You piece of trash, you sadist!"
Another series of "bang, bang, bang—"
Chen Li's face was covered in bruises, and his body ached all over. He was furious. "Li Chi'an, don't think I won't hit you. If you don't stop, I'm really going to fight back."
Since his divorce, Li Chi'an has experienced a completely new world when dealing with Chen Li and his family.
She suddenly realized that when she tried to reason with them, they always had their own logical fallacies, and in the end, she would not only feel dizzy and confused, but also furious.
However, it's best not to reason with them.
Let's get to work!
As long as you're fearless enough to fight them, they'll quickly back down.
This is a family of hypocritical villains. Silence them, beat them until they can't fight back, and if you run fast enough, you can win.
Thinking back to my past self, all that arrogance was for nothing.
Kindness is often taken advantage of.
When dealing with rotten people, the more respectable and kind-hearted you are, the more likely you are to suffer.
Violence is the most effective way to deal with violence. The more vulgar the insults and the more indecent the beatings, the more satisfying it is.
At least, when she was trying to reason with the other person, she almost went crazy with anger, but after picking up the stone and throwing it, her anger quickly dissipated.
That was so satisfying!
"Go ahead and fight back, you think I'm scared of you?"
"Have you no shame? You say you love your son and want what's best for him, but what have you actually done? You even took back the gold my mother bought for him. It was the Lin family who saw through your despicable nature and abandoned you. You couldn't survive, so you started scheming against your son!"
Chen Li covered his head and tried to hide, shouting, "Li Chi'an, are you crazy? Can't you be reasonable?!"
"No, unless you stay away from my son."
“You’re dreaming.” Chen Li looked up. “I can drop the charges, but you have to let my son come with me.”
"If you keep bothering my son, believe me, I can ruin your reputation once, and I can ruin it a second time!" Li Chi'an gritted his teeth and roared. "A barefoot man has nothing to fear. I don't care about saving face. If I can make sure you and Lin Ying have nowhere to hide in Xianghai City, I'll do anything. You believe me?"
"You!" Chen Li had experienced Li Chi'an's attack power firsthand over the past six months. "It's just a little gold. I'll deliver it to your apartment complex entrance at 10 a.m. tomorrow, and you can come and pick it up."
After saying that, he turned and left, his back looking somewhat disheveled under the streetlights.
The next day, Chen Li arrived as promised, bringing all the gold jewelry.
Chen was overjoyed to put on the longevity lock and walked around in front of Chen Li.
"Dad, is it pretty?" he asked innocently.
With so much gold jewelry, considering the child was young, Chen's youngest child only tried it on once when he received a gift from his maternal grandmother. After that, his grandmother hid it at the bottom of a box and he never saw it again.
Naturally, he had no idea how much effort his mother had put into protecting these gold ornaments and him.
Chen Li's face was covered in bruises, and he looked terrible, but because he was wearing a mask and a hat, his son couldn't see it.
He knelt down and patted his son's head. "Beautiful, like a little prince."
Li Chi'an stood aside, watching calmly as Chen Li performed a father-son display of affection for his son.
A chill ran through me, and I was overwhelmed with mixed feelings.
The war over gold jewelry was finally over, but she knew that as a mother, the responsibility of caring for and protecting her son had only just begun.
Some people are just like strawberries on a stall, only showing the good side while they are actually rotten inside.
She absolutely cannot let her guard down.
...
As dawn broke, the Bauhinia trees along the roadside swayed in the wind, their petals falling to the ground.
Li Chi'an led his son to kindergarten, asking, "Sweetie, did you finish reading the treasure book last night?"
"I've finished watching 'The Treasure Hunt'."
"What does it say up there?"
"The wealthy Qian Duoduo donated his treasures to the National Museum."
"And then what?"
"after……"
Before her son could finish speaking, Li Chi'an heard a cheerful female voice calling out, "Most beloved Mom!"
Li Chian turned his head and saw a woman wearing a pink knitted top and white pants standing at the entrance of the breakfast shop next door, waving at him.
"Good morning."
Li Chian recognized her as a woman from the neighboring community where he used to live, Nini's mother.
The breakfast stall was steaming. The woman took her breakfast from the owner. The bag was full of plump white buns. "I just finished eating red bean buns. They were delicious, so I bought a few more."
As Ni Ni's mother spoke, she quickly scanned the QR code to pay.
Li Chi'an, holding his son's hand, walked up to the other person and said, "You look great? You've lost weight."
Are you taking your son to school?
"Yes," Li Chi'an said with a smile, "Are you going home now?"
“That’s right.” Nini’s mother smiled happily. “Do you know I’m at work now? But I start work at noon.”
"Wow! You're going to work?" Li Chi'an was surprised but also happy for the other person. "What do you do?"
She understood why Ni Ni's mother was waiting there.
Ni Ni's mother has been a housewife for many years. She hasn't worked since she got married. Besides spending time with her daughter, she spends her days at home painting and doing crafts.
My daily life is monotonous except for my daughter. A few years ago, I was depressed because my husband cheated on me and we were going to get a divorce. I sought medical treatment everywhere. As my daughter grew up, I got much better.
However, before the Lunar New Year, Li Chi'an heard from a friend in the neighborhood that Ni Ni's mother had remarried her cheating ex-husband.
Some time ago, she also saw the other woman get out of her ex-husband's car, wearing high heels and dressed very elegantly and beautifully.
“Yes, I’m working now. I work on Fridays, right after the kids get out of school. I’m a teaching assistant in the north of the city.” Ni Ni’s mother rattled off her story to Li Chi’an.
"Wow! That's great, that's great! Going to work is so wonderful!" Li Chi'an sensed the other person's extreme happiness and naturally wouldn't spoil the mood. "That's awesome, you've become a teaching assistant."
The teaching assistant job seems to make Nini's mother feel proud, so she waited here from afar to tell her about it.
"I'm only happy when I'm at work. Look how happy I am right now, and I just want to share it with you."
"Yes, yes, look how empathetic I am. Women should go to work; they're only happy when they're at work."
Li Chian could understand the other person's happiness and was also glad that the other person had never given up her hobby of painting during the long time she was a housewife.
Otherwise, she, a middle-aged woman who never went to university, didn't work for more than ten years, and had little education or skills, is now able to work as a teaching assistant at a training institution, all thanks to her love of painting.
"Going to work is great, going to work is so wonderful."
No wonder the other person looked radiant and talked enthusiastically about work.
Unlike before, every time I saw her, she would talk about where to buy good food, what she was going to buy to cook for her daughter, or how she would drive a long way to a specialty store to buy Qingyuan free-range chicken in order to make her daughter eat healthily. She would spend an hour or two carefully removing the feathers and processing the chicken at home, and then prepare various medicinal herbs to stew it. After cooking, her daughter would not eat a bite and would insist on eating rice balls that cost five yuan each from the supermarket.
My heart is filled with helplessness and distress.
Li Chi'an felt both moved and touched, and was genuinely happy for the other person. "I'm happy, that's why I wanted to tell you."
"Haha, I received it."
The red light turned green, and the two waved goodbye.
The morning light just happened to leap over the eaves next door, making the walls glow golden, and the bougainvillea and snow orchids planted by the family on the balcony were in full bloom in the wind.
It was an unexpected morning, an unexpected encounter, yet it made Li Chi'an feel exceptionally good.
It's always heartwarming to see someone climb out of a trough and live their own life.
As time goes by, everything changes.
Instead of fearing and worrying about what hasn't happened or what has already happened, it's better to grasp what you can hold onto and live each day with a sense of accomplishment.
Her life was also being pushed forward, both actively and passively.
...
Six months have passed, and Blue Ocean Capital, which Qian Song keeps mentioning, has still not deposited any investment funds into the company's account.
"Mr. Qian, should we continue with the project we discussed at our last meeting?" asked Xiao Chen, a designer who had been with the company for almost half a year.
They've been making grand promises for months, but they haven't seen any money coming in.
Almost all the employees who were recruited to raise funds, as well as those who chose to stay and wait and see because of the fundraising, have left. Now the company only has three or four people left.
Qian Song was looking at the contract that the property management company had just brought when he heard this. He looked up and said, "Of course, but not now."
"Okay, then I'll go prepare the equipment and procedures for tonight's live stream."
"Have the lights been rearranged?"
"I just borrowed a lamp from the company next door this afternoon. I need you to test the lighting later. If you like it, we can buy one."
Qian Song frowned. "Let's try it first. Come find me in an hour when you're ready."
There was no word from Blue Ocean Capital, and Qian Song's own money was burning through more and more. Recently, he listened to some people's advice and started doing live streaming. However, despite investing in traffic, the monetization was very poor.
When the live stream started, Qian Song, dressed in a custom-made suit, sat under the spotlight and spoke eloquently, "Pure-bule is not just a brand, but a lifestyle..."
Assistant Xiao Zhao and the other company employees frantically sent hearts in the live stream, but the data still failed to meet expectations.
The company's actual sales remain stagnant.
Those impressive growth curves only exist in PowerPoint presentations and fabricated reports.
Whenever partners inquire about the progress, he can always come up with a new story: technological breakthroughs take time, market education is a long-term process, and the team is working day and night...
The money flowed away like water, and he even mortgaged the house his parents left him to the bank in the hope of making a name for himself.
...
The bespectacled young man sat in a chair and said to Qian Song, who was sitting on the other side, "Our legal colleagues will be here shortly. Please prepare all original financial documents, bank statements, sales contracts, and technical research and development documents."
Qian Song's heart sank, but his tone remained relaxed, "Manager Lin, I also have some good news to tell you. We are about to reach a strategic cooperation agreement with a very large platform..."
The young man raised his hand in a gesture of dissuasion, "No need."
Qian Song's face turned deathly pale, and his hands began to tremble.
He knew that the carefully crafted lie was about to be exposed.
He urgently convened a meeting of the core team, only to find that his assistant, Xiao Wang, and the finance manager, Xiao Kang, had already submitted their resignation letters.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Qian,” Assistant Xiao Wang said, head bowed. “I can’t get involved in this scam anymore. Manager Lin contacted me privately…”
Qian Song slumped in his chair, his face ashen.
He recalled how, in the early days of his business, he looked down on those "PPT companies" and vowed to make real products.
Now, he has become the kind of person he hates the most.
...
At the entrance of pure-bule company, Qian Song watched as workers removed the "Independent Designer" plaque.
The cash flow disruption exposed the true nature of this shell company. At that moment, a middle-aged woman dressed in designer clothes was leisurely flipping through a handover list in the chairman's office.
“These design drawings…” Qian Song tried to snatch the folder back.
“Someone has accused you of plagiarism.” She showed several lawyer’s letters from women’s clothing brands. “Luckily, you saved the original manuscript on my computer back then.”
Qian Song stared at the woman in front of him with a livid face, his eyes filled with resentment at being tricked. "Sister Li, you were the one who said it was okay back then."
Mr. Li slammed the documents he had handed him onto the table. “Xiao Qian, I told you you can go looking for inspiration, but I’m not asking you to make something exactly like this. I’ve invested so much money and trusted you, and this is what you show me?”
She pointed to the room full of sample garments, "The copyrights for these styles..."
“These were registered a long time ago,” Qian Song said in a final attempt to explain.
“Those are pure-bulk too.” Mr. Li took out the company seal. “Now they are assets of ‘Xinyi Apparel’.”
Qian Song's face turned deathly pale. "Who is the owner of Xinyi Clothing?"
The door was pushed open, and a tall, stylishly dressed girl who looked five or six parts like President Li walked in. She took off her sunglasses and said, "It's me."
...
A warm yellow floor lamp cast a soft glow in the corner, illuminating a small bookshelf with a few books next to it and Xu Zhuwen sitting on a single sofa.
A glass of red wine sat on the table next to me, and the air was filled with the aroma of orange, cinnamon, and red wine—warm, sweet, and slightly spicy.
Audrey: "Image"
Audrey: I heard that Pure-bule was acquired by another brand, did you know?
Building a brand is a very expensive business. Although Qian Song's Pure-bule brand suffered heavy losses and was insolvent, it doesn't mean that Pure-bule had no value. At least, thanks to the marketing efforts he made in recent years to enhance brand influence, Pure-bule has gained a certain level of recognition in the apparel industry.
Therefore, when Gao Yinxi heard this information, he immediately understood that Qian Song had lost his company.
Artist Xu: I don't know, I don't care if he dies.
Gao Yinxi sent a thumbs-up emoji, and then asked Xu Zhuwen what she was doing.
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